On traveling to Australia, flying a plane and an unexpected bumpy landing

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Justin Allgaier, who is currently 27th in the Sprint Cup Series points standings for HScott Motorsports.

Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to?

A: Yes, absolutely. I think it was Dale Jr. who had this system where you could have (the sound) cut out for testing, and I got ahold of it one time and it was the most amazing thing ever. We were down in Arizona at the proving grounds and I loved it.

What would you listen to? Something to pump you up or relax you?

It depends on the racetrack. There are not a lot of places where I need pumping up; I'm probably a little overzealous as it is.

But at the same time, music and rhythm have a lot to do with what we do in a race car. Growing up, when I was 5 or 6 years old, one of the first major pieces of advice I got was to sing while I raced, because the rhythm of the music will help you hit your marks. So for many years, I sang to myself inside the car. Even to this day, having that rhythm or a tune in your head really helps out.

A: My first paycheck probably came from my dad (Mike). He had a tire store back at home in Springfield, Illinois. I'd sweep the floors or help him unload the tires when they'd get a shipment in. On Wednesday mornings, they'd start unloading a 6 a.m. so they could get the shipments out before it got real hot.

I was lucky my dad had a business where I was able to do that, but at the same time, it taught me a good work ethic and things that are cool to have now.

Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time?

A: Probably Parnelli Jones. I remember going to the Indianapolis 500 and being fortunate enough to be in a suite up there and be with Parnelli in one of the suites. Seeing any of these drivers growing up, you kind of get immune to the fact of who these drivers were and how significant that was. But Parnelli was always that guy that seemed like the coolest guy ever and had so much history in the sport.

A: Australia. I've been to New Zealand and had an absolute blast going there. I raced there for a little over a month one time growing up. I was supposed to go to Australia during that trip, but it didn't work out to go over there. I keep telling my wife (Ashley) that I want to go to Australia and New Zealand, but unfortunately our schedule doesn't work out so well to be able to do that.

Q: Do people ever accuse you of being addicted to your phone?

A: My wife does, yes. I would say I'm not as addicted as I could be, but I have a very addictive personality. So it comes in spurts. If I can put my phone down, I don't touch it for hours. But if I pick it up, it's usually hours before I put it back down.

A lot of it depends on what's going on. If something big is going on with social media, if I'm following (a reporter) on Twitter, something breaking news wise, I'll be on it. And I also go through spurts with games where I'll be on there for awhile.

What games are you into right now?

I play Mad Skills Motocross 2. They have this challenge feature where it connects you with people you follow on Twitter and then you can challenge them and try to beat their time. Then you gain points and the more points you get, the more stuff you get. So it's kind of cool.

Q: If a genie promised you a championship in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer?

A: Yes, because I'm a very eclectic hobbyist. You can ask my wife on that one. I'm sort of about the flavor of the week, whatever is interesting at the time. So if you took one hobby away, it'd be fine because I could always find another hobby to do.

Right now, it's golf. I've been playing a lot of golf here lately and I'm really into it. Next week it might be RC cars – you never know what it's going to be. Unfortunately, I've spent a lot of time and money invested in some of these hobbies that I no longer do.

Q: What's your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race?

A: I'm probably not good at this one. I try and do my best to make sure there's nobody pissed at me after a race – that's a goal of mine – but I haven't been so lucky to make sure that doesn't happen every week.

I'm a bit passive when it comes to confrontation, so usually things end up building to the point where it's a lot worse than it could have been had I just said something. Or had they just said something, too. There are a few notables in this garage who don't have a problem saying what's on their mind. But for the most part, we're all pretty passive and tend to let things build to the point where they get out of hand.

So yeah, I don't handle it well. I usually sit back and stew on it and hope nothing major happens.

I think even Darrell Waltrip called me AJ Allmendinger during Bristol when we were running up toward the front. I don't know why people do that, but AJ and I laugh about it all the time. I mean, we're both a little bit on the shorter side – but I don't feel like we look anything alike. Our names do both start with A-L-L, I guess.

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Kurt Busch, addressing the media at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 12, was suspended by NASCAR eight days later after a Delaware family court commissioner issued a no-contact order against him stemming from a domestic abuse claim made by his former girlfriend.
Peter Casey, USA TODAY Sports

Feb. 15: Jeff Gordon and his wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, celebrate after Gordon won the pole for the 2015 Daytona 500 in a controversial group qualifying session. Gordon announced in January that 2015 will be his last full-time season in NASCAR's premier series.
Jared C. Tilton, Getty Images

Feb. 21: Safety crews attend to Kyle Busch, whose car slammed into an unprotected wall during the Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Busch broke his right leg and left foot and the safety debate began raging again.
Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports

March 1: Front Row Motorsports driver David Ragan moved over to Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 18 Toyota for Kyle Busch, who was recovering from injuries suffered in a crash at Daytona. Ragan's first race with JGR was at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images

March 1: For the second week in a row, a NASCAR driver crashed into an unprotected concrete wall. This time it was Jeff Gordon (24) and Denny Hamlin (not shown) during the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gordon met with NASCAR officials March 10 to discuss safety initiatives.
Russell Norris, AP

March 8: After missing the first two races of the season recovering from heart surgery, Brian Vickers returned to racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Two weeks later, Michael Waltrip Racing announced the driver would be sidelined again because of a recurrence of blood clots.
Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports

March 22: Kevin Harvick, front, finished second at the Auto Club 400 in Fontana, Calif., extending his streak of top-two finishes to eight consecutive races. The streak would end the following week at Martinsville Speedway.
Doug Pensinger, Getty Images

March 28: Kyle Larson was hospitalized after fainting at Martinsville Speedway following an autograph session. Larson missed the STP 500 at Martinsville the following day. He was released Monday night and completed 'extensive testing' Tuesday.
Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports

April 19: Denny Hamlin drove 22 laps of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway when rains halted the race. When the race restarted hours later, 18-year-old Erik Jones was behind the wheel of the No. 11 Toyota after Hamlin pulled out because of neck spasms.
Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images

April 24: A scary fire erupted on pit road during the Xfinity Series race at Richmond International Raceway, sending crew members from Brendan Gaughan's No. 62 team and Eric McClure's No. 24 team to a hospital.
Skip Rowland, AP

May 16: Kyle Busch returned to racing at the the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway after missing almost three months with a broken right leg and left foot.
Randy Sartin, USA TODAY Sports

June 7: Martin Truex Jr. wins at Pocono Raceway to break a 69-race winless streak dating nearly two years. The following week at Michigan International Speedway, Truex became the first driver since Richard Petty in 1969 to record 14 top-10 finishes through the first 15 races.
Matthew O'Haren, USA TODAY Sports

July 6: Austin Dillon's No. 3 Chevrolet flies into the catchfence at Daytona International Speedway after cars crossed the finish line in the Coke Zero 400. Dillon's car was ripped apart but he walked away from the crash uninjured.
Reinhold Matay, USA TODAY Sports

July 9: Ben Kennedy crashes into the fence and wall at Kentucky Speedway during the Camping World Truck Series race. Kennedy's crash was the second in one week which saw a vehicle slam into the catchfence.
Jeff Curry, Getty Images

July 26: Jeff Gordon (24) hits the wall while trying to avoid a spinning Clint Bower (not shown) during The Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard in his final race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Gordon is NASCAR's career leader at the track with five wins.
Jasen Vinlove, USA TODAY Sports

July 26: Kyle Busch celebrates with wife Samantha, son Brexton, and team owner Joe Gibbs after winning the Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard for his first win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The victory was Busch's third in a row and fourth in the past five races.
Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 11: Denny Hamlin arrived at Richmond International Raceway on crutches after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on Sept. 8. One week later, Hamlin would go on to win the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Chicagoland Speedway.
Amber Searls, USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 20: Kevin Harvick (4) spins after contact with Jimmie Johnson (48) a few laps earlier cut his tire during the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Chicagoland Speedway. Harvick finished 42nd and punched Johnson in the chest after the race when Johnson tried to apologize.
Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images

Sept. 23: Clint Bowyer was docked 25 points and crew chief Billy Scott was suspended for three races and fined $75,000 after the team was found to have violated a rule in during inspection at Chicagoland Speedway. The penalty erased his result in the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, leaving him last in the standings entering Chase race 2 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Josh Hedges, Getty Images

I just sign my name on it. I think they probably look at it afterward and probably go, "Oh man, that was awkward."

The other thing though is I probably get called "Jason" like 90% of the time if someone has the wrong name. I don't know where that comes from. So if I sign an autograph, I usually make sure it says "Justin" pretty clearly. But it's always been that way. Even when I was 9 or 10 years old, people would call me "Jason" for some reason.

Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go?

A: I'd go to the early-to-mid '80s. The cars just had a cool look to them – I like how the old Monte Carlos used to look, and I feel like that would be a cool time period to go back to.

And some of the racetracks they went to, you look at the tracks now and it's awesome for the fans because they've built up these major grandstands and have all the amenities, but I look at some of these pictures from tracks in the years past. I mean, you look at Bristol and there was just a front straightaway grandstand. How crazy would it be to go there and see that?

Q: Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible?

A: I'd go with the ability to be invisible. Flying is great, but I'd like to know what people really think of me a lot more than I like to get places fast. So if I was invisible, I could hear that without causing any issues.

What if they said bad things about you? Would you want to hear that criticism?

Well, if you were invisible you could just gut-punch them really quick and they'd never know you were there. (Laughs)

I think for me, I'd rather know where people stand – good or bad, it doesn't matter. Obviously I'd like them to say it to my face. But I like to know where people stand on a lot of things, even if it's not about me. I just like to know what people think about life in general, probably more than I should.

Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Kasey Kahne, and he wanted to know: What's the most daring thing you've done outside of racing?

A: I'm pretty boring, I won't lie. (Laughs) I did fly a plane. Last year we were in Michigan and we were going to a dirt race at Plymouth Speedway in Indiana. So they sent a plane to pick us up and bring us over, because it was a little bit too far to drive.

And the plane they brought was a school plane. It was actually a combo plane: They taught people how to fly and it was also a skydiving school. So it was a Cessna 172 and the pilot is walking us up to the plane and he said, "Alright, which one of you is flying today?"

I looked at him and said, "You are."

He said, "Eh, I do this all the time. I'm a flight instructor. One of you might as well get a lesson out of it."

So I said, "Well, I guess that'd be kind of fun. Let's try it." So I learned how to fly a plane. Now, I couldn't do it again if you ever asked me to replicate it – I'd have to take more classes – but it was pretty cool.

You didn't land it, did you? You just flew after it was in the air?

I actually flew all the way there and then I landed it, although it was kind of a joint effort. The landing was kind of sketchy though.

When you come in to land, people usually look at the ground, but I had some trouble with where the cabin was in relation to the ground. So I was kind of pulling on the stick and I guess I thought he was going to do more to help out, and when we landed it, we kind of bounced a little bit. (Laughs) I've experienced a few of those landings in commercial planes, but I didn't expect to do it myself.

The only problem was we were talking about skydiving the whole time, and it really made me want to do it. So that's the ultimate goal, to go skydiving. That's like my go-to thing that I want to do really bad.

Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver? The next interview is with Brennan Poole.

A: Watching his career and seeing what he's been able to accomplish, what does he feel like the timetable has been like? Does he feel like it's slower than he'd like to? Faster? And what's his timetable on ultimately making it to the Sprint Cup Series?

Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10?

A: It was a 12. A 12 out of 10. (Laughs) I've read the interviews this year and I've seen the questions, and I feel like they're fun to answer. So I'll definitely give it a good rating.